Forums

Help for beginners 2014 Topic

These open league tips are based on the sim engine and salary structure as of September 2014.
These are only suggestions, you can build a successful team without following all of these guidelines.

Draft 9 players that total at least $41M and no more than 17,000 minutes.
When the league starts, send the other 3 players to the inactive list and replace them with the computer generated rookies.
The rookies can be identified by using their position effectiveness, per%/mid%/pnt%, ppg/rpg/apg.
As much as possible, draft players that are 100% effective at multiple positions and have a midrange% less than 45.
Make sure you have 2 players on the court at all times with a usage% of at least 22.1% and an eFG% of at least 48% (or 1 player with a usage% of at least 32.5% and an eFG% of at least 48%).
Your starters should total at least: 50% ast, 30% oReb, 70% dReb, 90% usage, 200 3PM, and at least 3 starters should have a defensive rating of at least 70.
Try to avoid drafting players who are foul prone or have an eFG% less than 45%.
Generally, I'd recommend running an uptempo offense and a half court defense.
You can find some good values with partial season players.
Usually, the mop up lineup will be the 5 players with the lowest amount of target minutes.

Just started my first two leagues on here, and I have a few quick questions, btw thanks for the post, it helps new players build a team that should not lose 70 games.

Here goes with the questions:

1. Why draft only 17,000 minutes when the 82 game season is 19,680 without any OT?
2. Do you suggest the sim rookies play the other 2600+ minutes?
3. What level of overuse can you get away with? 5%?, 10%? or do players drop like a rock if they are slightly over-pace for usage?
4. Do the available players from the waiver wire have prorated minutes available, e.g. say you pick up a guy after game 50 that played 820 min IRL, can you use him for all 820 at that point, or is it prorated to 320?

(1) and (2) Thanks for the quick reply. So the rookies are not total stiffs?
(3) Say I have the 92-93 Rodman who played 2410 minutes. How far can I push that? What happens if I try to squueze another 241 minutes out of him (10% over IRL)?
(4) So if I burn out Rodman by game 60 can I sell him off for the 10% hit and get a season's full of minutes from the guy I pick up?

One thing to add here that I just thought of after an OT game I just played in -

Draft as many threes as possible while still keeping a perimeter/paint balance (the higher percentage, of course, the better). If you shoot like 600+ threes, that's about 150-250 4-point plays in a season.

Posted by roadhouse19 on 7/17/2012 12:34:00 PM (view original):If you draft a team which takes a lot of shots, but its best player/highest usage guy is a low post guy like Wilt or Kareem, what style of offense should one use, Up Tempo, Halfcourt or Slow Down?

always choose uptempo, there are times that half court will work but that's far and few between

Posted by roadhouse19 on 7/17/2012 12:34:00 PM (view original):If you draft a team which takes a lot of shots, but its best player/highest usage guy is a low post guy like Wilt or Kareem, what style of offense should one use, Up Tempo, Halfcourt or Slow Down?

always choose uptempo, there are times that half court will work but that's far and few between